Wolves win 11th game; Success on the road

ROCHESTER, NY--- The Wolves came from behind to force overtime against the Rochester Americans in action here tonight, and, after holding on in a penalty kill during overtime, came back to win the game in a shootout, 2-1.

Robert Gherson played the role of net minder tonight, giving Fred Brathwaite a break after he played nine games straight. Gherson, who earned one of the stars of the game, last played in the ECHL for the Columbia Inferno. Picked up as a free agent to replace Andrej Pavelec who is in Atlanta and Dan Turple, who was sent back to Gwinnett, Gherson was an unknown for a team that has largely stuck together since last season.

He quickly raised questions about his play when an early offensive attack ended with a goal by Tanner Glass off a Dylan Hunter rebound. However, Gherson composed himself and stopped 24 shots on goal, a 5:3 power play and two different power plays in the overtime period.

Facing Gherson, on the other end of the ice was Amerks goalie David Shantz. Shantz also came up from the ECHL to help the Amerks as they’ve also had callups. It was his third game of the year. Shantz held the Wolves off, keeping them scoreless through 59 minutes of hockey, including nine power play opportunities.

However in the last minute of play, Chicago received a power play opportunity, pulled Gherson to make it an empty net 6:4 advantage, which allowed Steve Martins to score the tying goal.

In the overtime, Boris Valabik, springing from the penalty box, was fed the puck, but was unable to handle it on the breakaway against Shantz. The Wolves missed a second chance to put the game away before the shootout when a cross-ice feed to Brent Sterling, who had an open net, went poorly.

During the shootout, Gherson raised the hopes of the local crowd, missing a high shot by Marc- Andre Gragnani. However, it was the last successful shot by the Americans, as the Wolves Jason Krog evened the score and then Kevin Doell put the winner in past Shantz.


Chicago 0 0 1 0 (1) -- 2
Rochester 1 0 0 0 -- 1 Shootout

First Period---1, Rochester, Glass 2 (Globke, Hunter), 6:40. Penalties---Crabb, Chicago (fighting), 2:39; Kaleta, Rochester (fighting), 2:39; Glass, Rochester (roughing), 12:27; Henry, Rochester (roughing, hooking), 16:24; Martins, Chicago (roughing), 18:05; Card, Rochester (roughing), 18:05; Weber, Rochester (cross-checking, unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:15.

Second Period---None. Penalties---Giroux, Chicago (hooking), 0:43; Kwiatkowski, Chicago (roughing), 2:33; Bench, Rochester (too many men), 7:05; Lojek, Rochester (hooking), 8:59; Martins, Chicago (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:51; Stewart, Rochester (Slashing), 12:26; Weber, Rochester (hooking), 19:44.

Third Period---2, Chicago, Martins 4 (Giroux, Krog), 19:01 pp. Penalties---MacDonald, Rochester (holding), 18:20; Valabik, Chicago (tripping), 19:18.

Overtime---None. Penalties---Bench, Chicago (too many men), 4:26.

Shootout---Chicago 2 (Krog G, Schultz NG, Sterling NG, Doell G); Rochester 1 (Gragnani G, Mancari NG, MacDonald NG, Zagrapan NG, Glass NG).

Shots on goal---Chicago: 15-9-14-2-1--40. Rochester: 5-11-8-1--25. Power plays---Chicago: 1-10. Rochester: 0-5. Goalies--Chicago, Gherson (24-25). Rochester, Shantz (39-40). A---5,985. Referee---Dean Morton. Linesmen---Tim Kotyra and Peter Feola.